Euro 2020 Group F- Heavyweights Collide As France, Germany, Portugal Clash

Euro 2020 Group F- Heavyweights Collide As France, Germany, Portugal Clash : Some of the jeopardy may be removed by the fact that the four best third-placed teams will qualify for the quarter-finals, but Euro 2020’s Group F remains full of intrigue as reigning champions Portugal, World Cup holders France and Germany all face off, while Hungary could have their say too.

France

All the other countries envy us,” shouted the front of French sports daily L’Equipe this week underneath pictures of Kylian Mbappe, Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann. In France they are understandably confident about their prospects of following their 2018 World Cup triumph with Euro glory.

Portugal

Portugal are reigning European champions and have reached at least the semi-finals in four of the last five Euros. They came second behind Ukraine in qualifying and, at 36, Cristiano Ronaldo is not getting any younger. However, Portugal also won the Nations League in 2019 and Ronaldo has arguably never been surrounded by so much talent: from Ruben Dias at the back to Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota and Joao Felix. If they click, they could take some stopping.

Player to watch: Cristiano Ronaldo
Given the talent in Portugal’s ranks, perhaps it is unimaginative to single out Ronaldo, but it will be fascinating to follow his progress. At 36 this is probably his penultimate major tournament. Portugal’s captain and most-capped player has 103 international goals, with 11 coming in the qualifying campaign. He is now just six shy of the all-time international scoring record of 109 held by Iran’s Ali Daei.

Germany

Germany are three-time European champions and have reached at least the semi-finals at each of the last three Euros. However, since their disastrous showing at the 2018 World Cup, when they went out in the group stage, Germany’s fortunes have not improved much. They topped their qualifying group ahead of the Netherlands, but in recent matches they were trounced 6-0 in Spain in the Nations League and suffered a 2-1 home defeat by North Macedonia in World Cup qualifying.

Fixtures (times GMT):

June 15

• At Budapest
• Hungary v Portugal (1600)
• At Munich
• France v Germany (1900)

June 19

• At Budapest
• Hungary v France (1300)
• At Munich
• Portugal v Germany (1600)

June 23

• At Munich
• Germany v Hungary (1900)